The Ghost Chronicles
by Zealot067
Summary: This is a story of a Dominion Ghost - Lieutenant Michael Hawkins. He has all of the skills that come from many years of experience and of course those that come with his Psionic abilities. He is not alone in his battle - and he will meet several of his friends on the path that fate has chosen for him. All I can say is - I hope you like reading this!
1. Prologue

Prologue:

War, war never changes, Ghost Lieutenant Michael Hawkins thought as he checked his bulky Anti-Material rifle. It had a full cartridge loaded and set. He smiled as he saw one of the Nuclear Blasts in the distance – they always reminded him on the trees he saw when he was younger. He stood up and pulled his half-helmet over his head and face, leaving his hair exposed. No need for him to protect his cranial area – a shot by any of the zerg there would kill him instantly – might as well feel good while he could.

He had been told this mission was the most dangerous mission since, well, since the re-appearance of the Zerg throughout the galaxy. This didn't trouble Michael; he was a ghost, trained and graduated at the Ghost Academy. He was obedient to his superiors and commanded his special operations soldiers with an excellence matched by few. His marksman ship with a rifle was paralleled only by other Psionics.

He had no backup on this mission, an evac was the best he'd expected at this point – but it seemed that the possibility of it was declining as they waged the war their ancestors had fought. He clicked on his laser sight and began to move through the destroyed buildings, through the smaller patrols of zerg. He couldn't kill any of them – that would alert whichever Queen or Cerebrate who commanded them. So he put as much distance between him and them as possible, and little noticed anything at all.

It wasn't long before he heard the rumbling of the great war-machines – tanks, mobile bases, and nuclear pads being moved a good distance away from the city. Several other Ghosts had been deployed on the planet and he could see them on his tac-sat view (tactical satellite). His black armor became visible once again as he reduced the flow of psi to his suit. He was one of the last few to remain without one of the new suits that required no energy to cloak. He went to thermal imaging as he reached the top of the building and switched to armor penetrating rounds. He then sighted a good mile and a half away at what seemed to be a swarm of zerg – what it really happened to be was one of the few entrances to the Main Zerg Hive. They had obviously under-estimated the terran's Black Operations abilities.

He entered a Psi Induced state like to that of a meditation and sighted downrange. He activated the red laser and heard an adjutant's voice over the comms. "Nuclear Launch Detected," It said simply. He saw one of the missiles flow up into the air. He then took the laser off and pointed it at the structure, while taking his rifle and sighting it at the area of the building behind him and mumbled," Come and get me you suckers." He felt the Zerg begin to swarm around the building, several climbing up through it or outside it. His blood ran cold and he began to fire.


	2. Chapter 1

Time slowed down on the roof of the building Mike had taken shelter on. He had easily taken out the first wave that had stormed the building, but he was running out of strength and stamina quickly, as the Zerg approached him from all sides of the building. He dispatched of the Zerglings whom had tried to surprise him from the rear quite easily, it was the swarms of them who made it to the top which had provided a difficult problem. Hydralisks had taken up several firing positions, pinning him down on the side with the laser designator. He looked at his watch, one hundred seconds until impact. The Hydralisks were getting more aggressive now, unloading five to seven spikes at a time in an attempt to hit him or the designator. Then the Roaches hit the roof. They entered on the side opposite of Michael and began screeching and spewing acid on anything in their path as they barreled through.

Michael tossed a grenade at the first two, killing them quickly – but more had begun to approach the roof. Thirty seconds until impact now, he thought as he checked his watch. The Zerg than began an all out push on his position. He quickly dispersed of the first three Hydralisks, wounded the fourth, and used his last grenade on a trio of roaches heading his way. They fell through the hole in the roof and plunged to their inevitable death. Then, the Nuke struck. The blast decimated anything it touched, leaving nothing but torched earth and empty husks of the alien menace that had once thrived there. The initial blast isn't what worried Michael – it was the winds, debris, and other items that were hurling at him at insane speeds. The winds hit the bottom of the building, and shattered its base. It slowly began to topple forwards. He pulled a long cylindrical device from his belt (about the size of a large flash light) and jumped. He spun mid-air, aimed it at a steadier building, and pressed a button on its side. The top launched itself (and a metal cord) at the building, impaled itself in and sent Michael flying into one of the boarded windows. He landed on a Marine's corpse, one of the several corpses that littered the room.

"Lucky me," he mumbled to himself as he arched his back in pain. He pushed himself off of the blood stained floor and looked at his rifle. It was in working condition. He checked his belt – only a few of the pouches had made it – he had virtually no ammo for the rifle.

"Drat," he said as he flicked on a glow stick. It illuminated his surroundings immediately, and he almost vomited. The room had a weird substance growing on it, almost like the Zerg's creep that they produced. There were also several bodies that seemed to have melded with the substance, and were changing from their natural looks. One even had and extra appendage growing above it. He looked around, saw a pair of light SMGs, and picked them up. He searched the marine that wielded them and grabbed his remaining ammo. He took his grappling cord, and lowered himself slowly to the ground.

Looking around, he saw a clothing shop nearby. His current armor was in bad condition, and he would need to get some coverings before night fell. He walked in, secured the area, and found a long brown coat. He put it on, and left the store, now looking for shelter. He scanned the area with the one remaining Tac-Sat and began to make his way north, towards the extraction point. All was silent along his trips; he didn't even sense a Zerg presence.

He reached the point within four hours, it was getting dark now and he could hear Zerg in the distance.

"Orion Phoenix X-0-6-7 requesting evac over," he reported over the Tac-Comms (Tactical Communications) Network. He got static.

"Orion Phoenix X-0-6-7 requesting evac, over." He said grimly a second time. Then, a line sprung up on the frequency.

"All remaining Dominion forces on the planet of New Delphi – you are hereby ordered to evacuate by any means available currently on the planet. The Zerg have created a blockade in which we cannot break. We will leave in thirty six hours. Admiral Strauss, over and out!"

"Damn," he said as he sat down. That order was a last hope – it meant most of the troops had already been evacuated – the important ones at least. He pulled his half-helmet up and got his first real glimpse of daylight. His Orange eyes adjusted to the new brightness. He felt his long blonde hair and stood up – he saw a blip on his radar – apparently friendly. He cloaked himself and began to approach its position 500 yards away.

It was a marine; he was kneeling by the corpses of his recently deceased squad. Mike walked up to him and de-cloaked. Showing himself to the warrior – who was crying.

"Soldier, how long have you been here?" Mike asked.

"Since it was bright enough to burn both yours and my skins," he said quietly. Mike's skin, being somewhat pale would burn easily.

"What's your name, son?" he asked.

"Dylan, Private Dylan Gordon sir," the marine responded.

"My names Michael Hawkins, I'm a Lieutenant – we need to find shelter before night falls."

"Alright, alright – just let me take care of these guys first." He reached down and grabbed the first soldier's dog tags, then the second's, and so on. When he was done he sat up and began to walk with Mike, towards the outskirts of town where there were sparse houses.

They eventually found one that was in a good tactical position and in a defensive state. The windows were boarded several times over, with holes for firing out of. The upstairs had a large hole in it, but would allow for Mike to hit enemies with his Anti-Material rifle. It also had a large stock of food and water. Dylan made a small contained fire while Mike maintained watch. A fog was beginning to set in.

"I don't like this," Dylan said to Mike as he came down the stairs from the second floor.

"Neither do I, but we have to live with the conditions the environment provides," he responded simply.

"Yea, well – screw Mother Nature then," Dylan said as he pushed open his helmet.

He was Caucasian and had brown hair and blue eyes. He picked up some of the stew he had just heated up and shoved it in his mouth.

"So, what's the plan Chief?" he asked.

"We head to the Spaceport in the West tomorrow, see if there's any ships left that we can take back home."

"Sounds nice Chief, when is day anyways?" he asked.

"I believe it's around an eleven hour night here, so most likely in around seven hours," Michael responded.

"I see," Dylan commented, and then it went awkwardly silent.

"So how is it being…."Dylan began but then Mike cut him off.

"Shhh, something's coming!" he whispered as he pulled his SMGs out. The door opened, something cloaked stepped in, and then it closed silently again. Whatever it was then realized that it had three weapons aiming at it and de-cloaked.

"Woah there!" it was another Ghost.

"Name and rank?" Mike asked simply.

"Ensign Shad Callisto – Ghost," he responded his violet eyes still wide with fear. He still had three firearms aimed at him.

Mike nodded to Dylan and they both put their weapons down.

"I saw you on the Tac-Sat; they sent you to Hystenburg up North didn't they?" Mike said.

"Yea, they did. We cleared it out pretty well until our air support began to get cut off. I had already called in a strike on the Hive there and they just kept appearing out of nowhere!" Shad responded," Had a squad of marines with me, they fought with courage and valiance – but alas we were eventually surrounded. I was able to escape by cloaking, but the marine's weren't so lucky." His skin gleaned orange as he looked at the fire," You've got food? May I please have some – I haven't eaten since two days ago."

"Sure," Mike said, and then looked at their current food supplies in the room.

"Hey Dylan, bet there's more in the fridge, why don't you go loot the kitchen?" Mike grinned.

"Sure, why not," Dylan responded as he got up and closed his helmet, and then walked towards the kitchen.

Shad ate in silence while Mike spun his fingers around. After a while Mike felt a wisp of Psi energy in the kitchen area.

"Woah, was that you?" he asked Shad.

Shad just shuck his head and shrugged as he pulled out a large pistol. They both got up and flipped their half-helmets down. They looked into the kitchen area, and then moved inside as they found it clear. The fridge was open, shedding light into the area.

"What the Hell?" Shad whispered, there were boot prints heading out the doors, and then from there the fog consumed.

"Let's follow it out," Mike said," We got Thermal's anyway."

Both switched to Thermal Vision as they moved outside. They checked on the now glitching Tac-Sat Map view and saw what they thought was the area clear. Nothing was in sight with Thermal's above or in the near surface of the ground. They followed the tracks shortly until they became a trail, as if he was pulled away. They followed that more cautiously, weapons up, until they stopped. The trail just ended there. They then saw the Facemask of Dylan's helmet, lying there in the ground with a hole in it.

Mike picked it up," Hydralisk spike definitely went through this, or something of this size."

"Shhhhaadddd," came from the mists, a ghostly whisper.

"What the….." Shad responded to Mike.

"Shhhhaadddd," came the whisper again.

"No, it can't be," he said.

"Shhhhaadddd," the whisper came again.

"Damn it, it can't be it can't," he said then began to run in the distance.

"Shad, NO!" Mike shouted as he ran after him. Soon, his footfalls became silent – Mike however still kept running. Then, he saw something in the Mists. He moved forward to get a better view. He saw Shad, he was being held up by the neck by someone. He moved forward more then gasped as he came to a stop. The Queen of Blades had Shad's neck in her right had. He was smiling at him as she set him down. Mike cloaked quickly, hoping to avoid being seen. Shad seemingly couldn't move, she was probably keeping him in place with her Psionic powers.

"Such a cowardly Terran," she gloated," Haunted by the Ghosts of the past are we?"

"I can take you to a place where none of them matter," she grinned as she pulled her finger across his chin. His eyes were wider then before with fright," Perhaps I should bring you to it," she said as she opened her mouth to expose two fangs, much like the vampire's in stories of old. She then clamped down on his neck, and something changed within Shad. From the bite around his veins slowly turned purple and his skin green. He then collapsed to the ground as Mike shouted," Shad!"

"Ah, there you are," she said then disappeared in the bat of an eye.

Mike began to walk backwards and ran into something solid. He turned and was about to fire when his weapons were smacked out of his hands.

"Nice try, but even if you used them they wouldn't harm me," she laughed as she disappeared again. Mike pulled out his knife, and then she appeared to his right. He spun and struck at her – missing by inches. He then brought the knife around for another strike when she grabbed him by the neck and hefted him up.

He attempted to resist but her grip was that of a robotic arm (unstoppable). Then he looked at her eyes and froze. She grinned as she set him down.

"You know, all you Terran's always fall for that little Psionic trick. Your pride always makes you look an enemy in the eyes – one way or another," Kerrigan grinned," Michael, Michael, Michael – always fighting, never any relaxation. You are always at war, sometimes even with yourself. I can bring you the peace you need, the peace you want."

She stepped back towards him.

"No." he spoke simply.

"Impressive, you broke through there for a second," she stepped closer and closer," Also, No is just not an answer for a girl like me."

She then clamped down on his neck, and he fell to his knees, then to the floor. His vision became cloudy, and he felt a new feeling flowing through his bloodstream.

"The Swarm is in need of your assistance, and I'm sure you will be glad to take your place amongst us," Kerrigan grinned as she stroked his cheek. He tried to move but had begun to lose feeling in his appendages.

Kerrigan, noticing this smiled and calmingly said," Sleep Michael, Sleep."

Slowly his vision closed until all was darkness.


	3. Chapter 2

Kerrigan strode through her new Hive at a leisurely pace, noticing several of her newly implemented architectural features that had been incorporated with the latest mutation of the Hive. She merely grinned at her handiwork - it was pitiful compared to her other...projects. She continued through the hive, walking past the larvae chambers and the resource processing facilities. She finally came to a halt in a long hallway, and walked over to a wall. She touched the wall and it spread apart, revealing her private laboratories within. She walked over first to the new Zergling cage which held a new mutation which would increase the speed of the Zerglings, then she walked into another room. Inside were several slanted walls. But - unlike any of the other walls - these had openings in them. There were around twelve, and only two were occupied. She looked at her latest project, the infestation of psionics.

Shad was the first one she examined. She had opened the small chrysalis and extracted him from it. He was, so far, only in the first stages of infestation. His skin showed signs of plating forming, and his powers were being slowly unlocked from all of the precautions that the Dominion took. She finished examining him and put him back using telekinesis. She then extracted Mike from his chrysalis and began to look at him. His system was, for some reason, adapting more effectively to the infestation. The plating was more prominent then Shad's and all his mental blocks had been removed. Even now Kerrigan could feel him reaching out, even lashing out in cries of help. She smiled, and whispered," Poor Michael, this room was created just to prevent those pitiful cries from reaching anyone." She then returned Michael to his place and sealed the cocoon, as she telepathically ordered a Hunter Killer to watch the Chrysalis's.

She walked back to the wall, touched it again, and began to walk to a new section of the hive. She usually had one of her Hydralisks join her for the stroll to the other side of the hive - however she didn't have that luxury today as a large portion of her troops were beginning their assault on yet another planet. She stopped at a well fortified portion of wall, and touched her hand on it. It slowly opened to reveal an adjutant, recently captured from one of the many Terran Command Centers on the planet.

"Activate," she spoke simply. The machine began to buzz, clank, and rotate as the Adjutant's systems came online.

"Zerg presence detected, self destruct imminent ," The Adjutant said with a purely artificial, female voice.

"Sorry, but that trick of yours has been disabled."

"Core memory dump in thirty seconds," The Adjutant replied bluntly.

"Again, disabled," Kerrigan sighed," Now, maybe you can help me. Login, Administrator."

"What is the password?" The Adjutant asked.

Kerrigan waded through the memories of the recently infested Terran Artificial Intelligence Expert (who had been captured in the Assault) and extracted it from his memory.

"Alpha 005, Delta 088, Sigma 044," Kerrigan grinned.

"Password accepted, Administrator account logged in."

"Bypass Security and deactivate the watcher programs."

"Task completed," The Adjutant replied as it looked at Kerrigan.

"Now, I want all the data on Psionic Ghost Agents transfered to me via neural uplink," Kerrigan ordered.

"Select mode of transfer: Storage Device or Psionic Link." The Adjutant ordered.

"Psionic Link," Kerrigan pushed herself telepathically into the device and allowed for it to begin the transfer.

Five minutes passed before the data had been fully transfered into Kerrigan's mind.

"Bio-Linking established, permanent Administrator set," the Adjutant barked before Kerrigan shut it off.

"Good to know," Kerrigan said as she sat and filed through her memories - looking for the fullest candidates for her latest; and possibly most productive, project. She searched through several, many of the names in the database were new to her as the Academies had been training full on since the first war. She eventually had picked several candidates. There was Wyatt Coleman, skilled in his works with psionically induced combat states. There was Jessica Nelson, a potent psionic, but even more so skilled in eliminating terrorist cells. She had even crossed Raynor once or twice. There was also Jose Hunter, who had a reputation of removing high priority targets at a distance. Than there was Jessica Baldwin, who had gone to the same Academy as Wyatt and become a skilled fighter in hand to hand combat. All of these were top candidates, and she had the picking of any one of them.

Kerrigan cycled through each one again, then picked one randomly. Her mind landed on Jessica Baldwin, Kerrigan smiled as she reviewed the characteristics. 5' 8", Long Dark Hair, lightly tanned skin, brown eyes and a small scar on the right of her jaw. Her next target.


End file.
